Hessian's Possession
by Hitomi Zotz
Summary: This is based on the movie Sleepy Hollow in a way, I don't have Icharbod or Katrina but I have the horseman and the Tree of the Dead will probably get a mention. The village is plagued by the horseman and a young girl finds out why
1. Default Chapter

Early this morning the body of a blacksmith was found on the outskirts of the forest that lies beside the village of Sleepy Hollow.

Blacksmith Edward Fitz was a devoted husband and father of two; according to locals no one had any reason to want his death.

The local people of Sleepy Hollow have been left in shock, this village which lies north of our city has been known for having no crime rate, indeed some even refer to it as dull and boring but now it seems a terrible shadow of sin has been cast upon the village.

Whilst the local people are being quiet about this murder we do known that Mr. Fitz was killed by being beheaded, rumour has it that his head is yet to be found.

One strange theory is that of a headless horseman, according to local legend there is the ghost of a man who rides at night without a head taking heads seeking his own.

It is clear that this story is nothing but a myth to scare children but one must wonder if a human doing this is better than a ghost? To know such evil is alive in such a peaceful village is not a pleasant thought.

By,

Alex Radin

No More Sleep For Sleepy Hollowers

12th September 1787

Volume 1, Issue 1

New York Times 

**Hessian's Possession**

**Chapter 1**

Holly shivered rubbing her hands together as she stared across her damp garden to the bridge. Across the river lay the forest, near there the blacksmith had died. She gave an involuntary shudder. Holly Bracken lived in the large house of one of the richest men in Sleepy Hollow, he was happily married with a son and two daughters, three including Holly.

"What are you at?" her older brother Mark asked arriving beside her. Mark was the handsome catch of Sleepy Hollow; he was seventeen with short, raven black hair, pine green eyes and a charming smile. Mark had always watched over Holly, he took an interest in what she had to say or what she wanted to do unlike the rest of the family, they were busy, always busy.

"Nothing," Holly answered as she stared at the river. Holly was thirteen, a young, thin girl with dark hair like coal, freckled, fair skin, cool, blue eyes and a slightly pointed nose. Compared to her sisters and her mother she felt she wasn't much too look at, she was scrawny not slender, her hair was nothing but trouble and only blonds seemed to have beauty, her skin was hideously spotted and freckled and her eyes were too icy.

"Maybe it was a one off," her brother said following her gaze.

"Maybe," she mused.

"Just don't stray and you'll be safe."

"Why him?"

"I don't know." Her brother then gave her a wide smile; his mother had said not to let Holly reflect on the murder, it would do no good for her to fear. "Come on; let's go play with the dogs." Such an unladylike thing to do but Holly wasn't bothered, no gentlemen had interest in her anyway and no friends would judge. Clambering to her feet she followed her brother across the long, damp grass to the kennels where the family's three dogs slept.

Later, towards the end of the day, Holly strayed from the garden daring to approach the river. She gazed across to where the forbidden western woods lay. The trees were large, looming and dark, their thick trunks almost black, branches bare except for pine and not a trace of life. The river itself steadily flowed, sounding quieter than a river should, almost as if the curse of the woods silenced its sweet sound. Holly gazed down at the water searching for fish that never had been there and never would be. The sun began to dip below the horizon and a cold chill fell over her as its warmth vanished with it. The sky was a smoky blue dusk that would soon turn black with night; it was time to head home. Holly sighed, she'd rather not, the eerie atmosphere didn't bother her so much as it frightened others; she enjoyed the solitude with only the sound of the river for company. Only the river? Her heart skipped a beat. No longer just the river for company.

Running, running like the blacksmith probably had. Hooves pounding behind her, louder than her fear-stricken heart. The house loomed in sight and an adrenaline rush pushed her on to the doors. The young maid Grace gave a startled gasp when the door was forcefully flung open and her youngest mistress came racing in and slammed it shut. "What's wrong mistress Holly?" the maid politely queried. Holly didn't reply and ran up the stairs wildly searching for Mark.

"Mark! Mark!" she called.

"Holly what's all the noise about?" her eldest sibling, Fern, demanded. Fern was eighteen; her skin was a milky white, her eyes a spring grass green and her hair long, blond tresses with hints of light brown and auburn. She was almost as tall as her mother with a small chest, small hips and a neither fat nor thin stomach. Fern was engaged to a good man called Morgan who was fairly well-off owning several horses and a small bit of land, he also employed a groom, a cook and two maids and his house had two stories. It wasn't as big as the Bracken household or had as many servants but no home in Sleepy Hollow was, it was the oldest house in the village and had also been home to the landowners.

"Have you seen Mark?" Holly questioned.

"No, now it's getting late, mother's been wondering where you were, go speak with her, have your supper and go to bed." Fern continued on her way and Holly stuck her tongue out before smoothing out her dress and heading to see her mother in the living room.

She acted calm as she approached her mother who sat on a wooden chair sewing by the fire, she had Fern's blond locks and green eyes but lately her skin was ashen, her hair dull and her eyes didn't sparkle as they once did. Holly wondered if her mother was sick or it was the murders that disturbed her but like her siblings she'd been warned by her father not to upset her and only be cheerful and pleasant. "Holly, where have you been?" she queried in a soft tone with a warm smile that didn't quite stretch as it should've.

"I was just watching the sunset," Holly answered.

"Ah, you have such an inquisitive mind but in these dark times you must curb it and stay near home, you are my little treasure, my youngest and I fear for you most."

Holly shifted uneasily. "Don't worry mother, I won't stray." Had she truly heard the hooves of the headless horseman? Surely it was just a spooked deer or a horse of the village and her imagination merely made her think it had come from the woods.

"I remember when you were younger, you always loved horses instead of dolls and you learnt to ride as soon as possible."

Holly smiled. "Yes, I do love riding, it gives me such a sense of freedom feeling the wind through my hair and horses are such magnificent beasts and I love father's dearly."

"Hmm I know you'd like your own and you would have one but not now when there's so much danger but I promise you will have one."

"Oh mother, you know I'm content to ride father's now and then."

"Yes but still," she sighed heavily, "goodnight Holly."

"Goodnight mother." Holly exited the room. Her mother, Elsa, stared at the flames and that surge of guilt rushed through her again, it was wrong to think she could make up for it with gifts but what else could she do? There was no point in the truth at this point.

Holly couldn't sleep as she lay clutching her sheets close to her chin, the candle had almost faded and she could scarce see a foot in front of her. It was a foggy night and the room was an ominous black but no noises disturbed her, the silence disturbed her. The silence smothered her choking her senses, why no owls, no bray of a horse? She was scared alright but of what? What was it that made this night seem anything but peaceful? Was there a noise? Ah just her heart pounding away, pounding, pounding, pounding…She was so sleepy perhaps she'd just take her chances and slumber. Pounding, pounding, pounding…

Mark awoke with a start and his eyes widened at the pale form in his doorway clinging to her white skirts. "Holly?"

"I hear him coming," she choked, "I can hear the horseman!"

He yawned and climbed out of bed. "Oh Holly don't be silly, that's just a rumour, I know the murders are scary and to think it must be someone we know but it's not some ghost."

"Then who rides tonight?"

"You've had a nightmare," he explained finding no other explanation.

"To have a nightmare you need to sleep," she snarled at him.

"Obviously you drifted off," he argued, "Holly there is no horseman!"

"Listen!" They both strained their ears though there were no competitive noises and Mark's face went white as he heard the distinctive beats of hooves.


	2. Chapter2

**Chapter 2**

Holly awoke with a moan. "About time you got up sleepy head!" Her blurred eyes slowly took in the form of her sister Lily. Lily was sixteen- a happy girl who was as pretty as Fern with the same blond hair and green eyes but a much nicer personality.

"What time is it?" Holly wondered aloud realising she was back in her own bed.

"Noon, Mark said to let you sleep, he said you had a nightmare. So what did you dream about this time hmm? The horseman?" she queried in a slightly mocking tone.

Holly's heart skipped a beat. Hoof beats! Mark had heard them as well! She remembered staying awake petrified for hours with her brother but at some point she must've dozed off. "Where is Mark?" she queried.

"Outside talking to Mr. Browleaf's daughter I imagine," Lily remarked with a giggle. It was a known fact that Mark had a crush on Nina Browleaf and many suspected the sixteen-year-old girl had feelings for him as well but both were too shy to admit to it.

Holly didn't want to interrupt her brother knowing full well that he wouldn't like it but she had to have him confess that he too had heard the horseman! With a sigh, she hurried to get ready.

"Mother wishes you to join her for lunch since it's too late for breakfast," Lily remarked, "since it's such a nice day she's deciding to eat out front." With a smile Lily exited as Holly cursed inwardly.

Not wanting to upset her mother Holly grudgingly attended lunch but the whole time her mind was on the horseman. "Holly what's wrong?" Elsa queried with concern seeing her youngest's troubled look. "Your brother said you had a nightmare, does that still trouble you?" 'Ah yes, the horseman,' Elsa, her mother, thought with a heavy sigh, 'he haunts her sleep; he haunts everyone's sleep including mine.'

"No mother," Holly retorted forcing a smile, "don't worry, it's nothing." She quickly finished the last of her meal and stood up to find her brother.

"Don't wander far," her mother cautioned.

"I won't," Holly replied as she headed off.

The day seemed so much kinder, the sun shone warmly and the soft grass welcomed Holly to lie on it but she resisted as she walked. The river flowed calmly nearby instead of coldly and Holly could almost imagine dipping her feet into it despite how close it lay to the Western Woods. Glancing to the woods all happy thoughts created by the nice weather vanished and she shuddered. The woods were constantly a dark place as the trees were so thick no light entered below and the bark was a dark brown that looked black almost.

He'd appear as if by magic on the back of his demonic steed. Only the snort of the hellish stallion would be heard in the deathly quiet woods. It would be dark, night, always night but the horseman wouldn't care- he had no head to see whether it was night or die. Already knowing his victim, he'd unsheathe his sword and ride faster than any mortal could. That was how Holly pictured it and that was probably how it was.

She spotted her brother and Nina just taking a stroll on a path not far ahead and was about to call to him when she noticed how happy the pair looked, how happy he looked. Holly smiled and decided it was best to let him enjoy such a nice day.

The young girl watched the villagers at work- herding sheep, collecting eggs, grooming horses, pulling up stray vegetables etc and then her attention turned to the children. The dark haired girl gave a heavy sigh wishing she could join in. Alas, Holly wasn't outgoing like her siblings and because she was the landlord's daughter the other children were wary of her. There was also the fact that at around the age of eleven, Holly had become feverish and sick. She'd been in bed for most of a year and everyone thought she would die but somehow she'd made a recovery although, it had been a slow recovery and she'd been contained in the house for a further year. Whilst Holly was just thirteen now she remembered very little of her past two years and it frightened her. Unfortunately, Mark and Lily had little to say on the matter except that she was forever between unconsciousness and consciousness and her father had thought her possessed. It was her mother who'd been present when she'd started to recover. Holly had questioned her mother once but Elsa would push the matter aside saying 'I don't remember how you recovered just that you did.'

Holly walked on for a little bit and chose to sit on a patch of soft grass heated by the sun's golden rays. It was near the river so she could enjoy its sweet babble but far away enough for her to feel safe from the Western Woods' dark pull. As she sat there she continued to think of her 'lost' two years. Why had she gotten sick? What with? Why hadn't she died? Holly gave a shudder, she'd come so close to death but she didn't remember!

The sun was so warm and bright she closed her eyes and ended up dozing off. She awoke startled to find she dozed off and pulled the loose grass and leaves out off her hair as she glanced about her. It was no longer bright and sunny and she couldn't hear any peasant's cheerful voices. The sun hadn't quite set but it was starting to, Holly quickly scrambled to her feet. 'Oh no,' she thought with alarm, it was too late, somewhere nearby she could hear hoof beats. Should she run for it? Which direction where the hoof beats coming from? Holly looked about her wildly.

"Holly!" She turned at the cry with a gasp and found her brother riding towards her on his paint stallion. She gave a huge sigh of relief and ran towards him. "Holly what on earth are you still doing out here? We've been searching everywhere around the house for you!"

"Sorry, I fell asleep!" Holly retorted as she mounted behind her brother.

"Well at least you're alright."

She nodded and as they started to ride back at a walking pace she decided to ask him about Nina. "So how's Nina?"

Mark jumped slightly at the name and blushed furiously. "Uh she's fine," he muttered.

Holly giggled. "How are you and Nina?"

"Wh…wha…what do you mean by that?" he stuttered. Mark was one of those people who tried to be subtle and just made things more obvious, he also never realised when he was obvious. Holly laughed, it was one of the many reasons she adored her older brother.

The horse stopped and snorted. "Come on boy," Mark urged. Holly suddenly felt as cold as ice as she realised there were no sounds. She jumped as the bleating of sheep broke the sudden silence and turned to see them come running away from the forest.

"Mark I think we should hurry up," Holly practically begged as she clung tightly to her brother's waist for fear of falling off and becoming victim to her fears.

"Alright," Mark agreed trying not to sound like he actually felt fear. He cracked the reins slightly on the cream and chestnut coat and squeezed his legs into the steed's sides. It responded by picking up into a trot. Mark hadn't mentioned to his family or even to his beloved Nina that he too had heard hoof beats last night, whilst he knew it couldn't have been a villager he forced his mind into denial telling himself that a horse might've been lively in a field or that it might've even been a deer.

"Mark!" Holly's cry was sharp and filled with fright. Mark perked his ears and heard the familiar pounding of something that should've sounded so normal but instead was unnatural, dark and eerie.

Knowing that whilst his horse carried two his house wasn't far, Mark urged the stallion into a canter. "Don't look back and you won't know," he cautioned Holly, in the case it was better to not know the truth of what was coming ever closer.

Holly shivered and closed her eyes, she wasn't a coward but she was young and hadn't known of any demons or devils until recently when the first beheading had been dealt. Hooves mixed with hooves but they weren't in union and somehow she _knew_ what beats were alive and which weren't. 'Let us live,' she begged, 'let us make it.'

There was a jolt as the stallion practically crashed down on their lands, froth and spit streaking its flank from its mouth. It snorted loudly as Mark urged it to the back entrance. Mark and Holly jumped off and exchanged a wide-eyed glance. "I have to stable him, get inside Holly." Mark grabbed the reins of his steed and hurried off.

"Mark don't!" Holly called after him. "He could get you!" Though the horseman had only killed once the rumours were already fast spreading, after all, they all knew his identity already without question. A Hessian Holly recalled as she waited by the porch nervously. She didn't follow her brother because she knew he could run twice as fast as her and so she'd only slow him down and risk both of them but she wasn't about to enter without him. Nervously she cast her eyes about her and listened for the horrible hoof beats. A Hessian sent by German princes to keep the Americans under the yolk of England they said, he had a great love for carnage and rode a magnificent but terrifying steed called Daredevil, he and the black stallion had died together. Holly shuddered and listened for her brother, praying for his safety.

"Holly get inside!" She sighed with relief as her brother appeared. He ran up to her, opened the door and ushered her in. Neither relaxed once in the warm pantry with its reddish-brown, brick floors, instead Mark slammed the door shut and used a stool to block it, he positioned the stool so that the handle couldn't be pushed down fully and therefore, the door couldn't be opened. The pair then hurried into the kitchen and on into the sitting room.

"Holly! Mark! What happened?" their mother queried seeing their blanched faces. "Where were you Holly?" The good-natured Lily smiled mischievously whilst their father gave a tight-lipped frown.

The siblings exchanged glances. "Nothing," Mark lied as he took a breath and moved towards the fire. 'It was probably just a deer or someone riding back from hunting,' he told himself as he visibly relaxed.

The room was cosy and welcoming; it was hard not to feel calm and safe here although somehow, Holly managed it. "I fell asleep in the sun," she confessed. How long ago that felt! Now the sun had vanished and darkness surrounded them and their home and in it some ghost murderously rode. Holly shivered. "It was foolish of me, I'm sorry," she apologised.

"You look so frightened," Elsa remarked with concern as she gazed at her brother with almost transparent, bluish-grey eyes.

"I'm fine mother," Holly assured her mother.

"You've probably caught a cold resting as the nightly chill approaches," Lily scolded with a smirk. "Come little sister, let's go to the cook and have her make you some soup." Lily stood up and smoothed out her frock. The pair exited.

"Soup won't cure her," her father finally spoke in a dark tone as he continued to frown. Mark glanced at him and then at his mother and gave a heavy sigh.


	3. Chapter 3

Short chapter here, took a while but hey, I can be slow! Thank-you very much for the comments so far, hope you're enjoying it! So it's veered of the movie completely now almost lol but you may notice a little snippet based from the book here.

**Chapter 3**

Had it been the horseman? Mark didn't know but he was willing to deny the demon's existence and think it a common deer or perhaps a villager. A villager who now thought he and his sister foolish and puzzling. He smiled at the pretty Nina and banished the dark thoughts, strangely though, Nina seemed distracted. "Is something wrong?" he queried with concern.

"Wrong? What could be wrong?" She smiled at him in an assuring manner as they walked.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I guess, I figured your mind, like a lot of people's, might be on the murder."

Nina gave him a smile. "I see it as an odd and terrible occurrence that is very unlikely to repeat, it's best to put it out of our minds and move on. These rumours about a headless horseman do not help though." She gave a small frown.

"No, I guess you're not a believer then," Mark muttered. 'No,' he added in his head, 'because there's nothing to believe in.'

Holly eyed him coldly for a moment as if it was an utterly foolish remark but then she smiled again. "I believe that there was Hessian who died in the woods by losing his head but I believe in no more than that."

'I shouldn't believe in more than that,' Mark told himself, 'Holly's fears are making me paranoid.'

BANG! BANG! They both jumped at the shots and Nina grabbed Mark with fright. "Another dead!" a man wailed. "The horseman came again!" The man was blanched as he shouted the terrible news from his horse but he dared to turn back and lead the others to the corpse.

Mark considered following but refrained from doing so- it was probably for the best. Instead he calmed Nina and then hurried home to tell his father but his father wasn't at home but instead at the blacksmiths and so had been informed.

Ivor Bracken- father to Mark, Holly, Lily and Fern and husband to Elsa, looked down at the headless corpse with a grim frown. It was clear the person had been fleeing and had been caught in the field where a small flock of sheep normally grazed. The sheep were nowhere to be found though. "Who is it?" a man queried.

"It's John Phillips, he owned the sheep that grazed here," came the dark response. "I imagine he heard them bleating at the horseman and came out to see what was the cause."

"There is no horseman!" Ivor snapped glaring at them all.

"Then why the hooves?" Nina's father Hayden questioned dryly, pointing down at the hoof prints. "They are recent enough and no rider we know has been this way."

"Humph," Ivor muttered, "the killer may be a man who rides a horse but he is no ghost or demon, no spirit of a headless Hessian!"

"Is it true that you knew the Hessian?" one man questioned with a sly smile. "I heard that you met him, perhaps we could have you tell us what he looked like and then, if we get a witness, whether it's a ghost can be confirmed."

Ivor's face boiled over with rage as all eyes turned from the corpse to him. "I heard from servants that a strange man did take refugee in your house once or twice and then departed, only to return to gain a grave three weeks later," Hayden commented carefully.

"I know not of whether a guest I had was a Hessian or not," Ivor responded curtly, "I've had more than one visitor over the years but if they did die I very much doubt they've chosen to rise up from the grave now!"

"Poor John," the man with the sly smile said, glancing down at the corpse pitifully.

"May we be glad he passed quickly or so it would seem," Hayden said. "One quick slice it would seem." So it did, there'd barely even been any bleeding around the wound death had happened so swiftly.

"Another death?" Holly's eyes went wide at the news.

"Yes, John Phillips I heard," Lilly chattered away, "owned some sheep, wasn't married and no children but no cause for any to harm him." Lily wasn't shocked or even frightened, she was an adventurous gossip and murder was such a fascinating subject, especially in this boring village!

"It's nothing to gossip about," Fern chided. The three sisters were sitting in the garden beneath the warm sun in a refreshing breeze. They sat by a table with tea and lemonade upon it as they waited for their mother. Elsa Bracken always tried to insist she and her daughters had afternoon tea at least three times a week.

"Do they know if it was the horseman for sure yet?" Holly asked.

Lily smiled at the thought. "Nay but Graham tells me there were hoof prints." Graham was Lily's current tease, he fancied her greatly but she would only offer him a wink and a cute giggle, he was usually her source on the events in Sleepy Hollow. Graham was the son of a man who'd served as a journalist in New York, bringing his family to Sleepy Hollow when his wife had taken ill. Graham had inherited the ability to snoop and spread.

"A dead horseman? Don't be ridiculous Holly," Fern scolded, "and don't speak of it in front of mother. I suspect when she eventually does hear about it she'll make sure you stay on our grounds at all times."

"There's no danger in the day," Lily argued.

The girls went silent as Elsa finally joined them. "Tea mother?" Fern offered politely, lifting the teapot.

"Yes, thank-you Fern," Elsa retorted gratefully as she sat.

As they discussed the boring things of Fern's life with her husband, housekeeping and cooking at which Lilly rolled her eyes and tried to feign interest, Holly pretended to listen whilst thinking of the death. It sent a cold shudder down her spine despite the heat, how many times would she be able to escape the horseman before her head soon left her? She was afraid and decided it would be best to stay in the gardens and at home for a while. Holly was not a coward though and was, at times; quite strange of mind and her thoughts actually turned to the absurd question- what was it like? How did a spirit find its way without a head? Did he really wish to ride around killing people? Was he a soul stuck in limbo? 'It must be lonely,' she thought wistfully, 'it's impossible to know how his mind must work if he has a mind at all.'

"Holly are you listening?" Fern snapped impatiently.

"Hmm?" Holly snapped out of her trance to face her sister's heavy scowl and Lilly's amused smile.

"It's rude to ignore people," Fern hissed.

"It's rude to bore people," Lilly commented with a smirk.

"Lilly," Elsa spoke up sternly although she was amused. Elsa never wanted to really let her children go, it was nice to see that despite how adult they'd become, they still sometimes acted childish.

The merry mood was quickly spoiled though as Ivor came trudging across the grass, mercilessly trampling it as he did. He bore a heavy scowl, his face wrinkled with stress and age and his misty grey eyes sparkling with malice. The girls all looked at their father with a mixture of fear and humbleness. Ivor had never beaten any of girls; he was a man who believed in the raising and punishing of the son whilst the wife trained the daughters to marry to the men of good fortune. Despite these beliefs he was generally a loving father though he didn't often express it well.

Elsa stood up to greet her husband, her head slightly bowed and her hands clasped before her. She knew what was no doubt plaguing him. "My dear, what's the matter?" she questioned with gentle concern.

"Bah this talk of devils and ghosts is the matter!" Ivor spat. "It's bad for this village, too much superstition!"

"Who is the true killer then father?" Lilly queried with polite curiosity and some mockery she hoped went unseen.

Ivor frowned heavily at his daughter. "We do not know," he was forced to admit. "I saw John though; the murder is good at handling a blade."

"Father there's no one like that in Sleepy Hollow!" Lilly protested.

"Do not tell me my own daughter believes in a ghost?" Ivor bellowed in a snide, belittling tone. He gave a harsh laugh. "What a foolish thing for one of your age to even suggest exists! If there is a death by a skilled swordsman then a skilled swordsman in Sleepy Hollow there must be, it is entirely possible he practices in secret or did you not consider that daughter?"

Lilly flushed angrily and Fern gave a smug nod in agreement with her father. "Is it truly impossible for a dead horseman to ride?" Holly dared to query. "Or is it just improbable?"

"You should hold your tongue unless you've something smart to ask," Ivor snarled with a sharp glare at his youngest, "do not waste my time with your terrible fantasies."

"Ivor!" Elsa scolded seeing Holly's look of horror at her father's accusation, how could he possibly think she'd enjoy the idea of a slaughtering Hessian? There was a hidden meaning in Elsa's cry but no one could quite decipher it except Ivor. "You've had a trying day and this talk upsets you but don't take it out on the children," her tone became warm and calm again. "Come, let's discuss it inside." She guided her husband back towards the house, a hand dismissing her astonished daughters.

_Hoof beats. An angry snort. Flashes of bloodied steel. The bridge was so close, so very close, soon the wood would echo as it did every time this dream occurred and then all would be well. The river's sound mixed with the wild snorts that gave chase and frogs gave up cries as leather struck soft fur._

_Bang! No! No! Never had they fallen before! The bridge, they'd never make it to the bridge in time now!_

Holly, Elsa, Ivor and Mark all awoke during the wild and stormy night. Each listened to their own heavy breathing and the heavy fall of rain upon the roof and wind against the walls.

"What if it's all true?" Elsa questioned her husband with fright knowing he was awake. "What if the Hessian truly does ride?"

"What if?" Ivor responded darkly. "Then I guess none can stop him."

"Ivor you know why he rides if it truly could be he!"

"Bah Elsa, you and your old wives' tales! That creature unworthy of ever being deemed a man is long gone and you had better forget that," he warned.

Elsa went silent but she thought, 'how can I forget? Especially now, they say it's him riding and despite what I know to be possible and not I'm starting to believe it's true. Oh God, don't let the Hessian ride though perhaps he has right to. We are all sinful but Lord, don't let him ride.'


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Fern didn't visit the house so often now and Mark was the only one to really leave and that was to visit Nina. A dark spell had fallen over Sleepy Hollow, no one had really known John and so no one really missed him but his death had people worrying more than ever.

Ivor sneered at the plants and herbs nailed up on doors to protect people, horseshoes with them, protection amulets around necks and other such ridiculous things. He didn't fear any ghost; such things were impossible and didn't exist. He feared nothing, the murderer would be found out and locked away to rot.

Elsa feared though, Ivor may have found her foolish but she thought herself wise to fear. She smiled gently at her youngest who tossed and turned. "Will she be alright?" Mark queried, a basket of buns in his left hand- a gift from Nina's mother.

"Yes, it's not as bad as the last time," Elsa assured him, "a few more days in bed should do her, she just has a slight fever this time."

"She'll be wide awake after all that rest," Lily commented teasingly. Though she mocked she was worried for her little sister, it was an instinctive reaction after all the time the girl had spent ill in bed before. 'Poor Holly,' Lily thought pitifully, 'you never could make friends because of it or go out and have fun as a young child and now a fever strikes you down again.'

Mark was slightly suspicious. 'Last time when she first took in there was a storm and two farmers swore they saw a devil horse with a dead rider upon it, no one took notice thinking it a hallucination brought on in the storm. Just seeing things they said, probably a poor deer with some fallen tree branch stuck in its antlers. Now she takes sick again and there's talk of a headless horseman riding about. How could the two possibly be connected in any way though?'

"Well let's give her some rest," Elsa said, rising from the bedside. "I'll go get the cook to fix us some lunch." They all left the room.

In her sleep Holly had dreams of a handsome black steed with a rider hidden in shadow. Unknown to her these dreams had come before with her last fever but she'd forgotten them immediately as she would these ones. Just as in her last ones she begged the rider not to kill, she fell to her knees and cried, apologising and thinking the deaths were somehow her fault.

When Holly recovered two days later she could sense the grim shadow coating the town. She awoke to a grey, drizzly day and found her two siblings and mother quietly talking in the spacious living room whilst sipping bitter tea.

"Hey you're awake," Lily said with a smile. The smile was only slight though, not the expected wide grin and there was no sparkle in her eyes.

"What's happened?" the observant thirteen-year-old queried.

"Nothing," her mother answered quickly, "it's just a dreary day, that's all."

"No, something's happened." Her eyes widened slightly. "Has another been killed?"

Her mother's knuckles whitened as they tightly gripped the cup, Mark glanced downwards and Lily looked saddened. "Nina's mother…just a night ago," Mark muttered, "I've spent most of the time with her but she needs some time alone with her father." He sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry," Holly said lightly though it really was comfort to no one as the death had had little effect on her family.

"It is a tragedy," her mother remarked, "and we can only hope the killer shall be caught soon enough."

"Surely with all these deaths they've left enough clues," Lily said.

Elsa stood up. "Come on Holly; let's get you something to eat."

After Holly had eaten she spent most of the day inside, playing with the dogs and pondering over the killer, the possibility of a dead horseman and reasons for killing. She came up with no conclusive answer or reason and gave up, heading to the stables to give her distraught brother some company.

Mark had chosen to groom the horses to distract himself and was currently untangling the mane of his father's black mare 'Black Bess', she'd been named after the famous English highway man's horse by Lily (who often read romantic tales of a tragic nature). The mare was small, docile and getting old, with a few grey hairs starting to show. She could still run faster than nearly all of the village horses though having been sired by a stallion from a long line of noble, French men's thoroughbreds and a mare from a family who'd probably fiercely pulled the chariots of the ancient Greeks.

"How is Nina coping?" Holly questioned as she entered the dry stable from the icy rain.

"Staying strong for her father, they're both coping well considering what's happened, Christine was loved dearly by them both," he retorted.

"Tell her I'm sorry."

Mark nodded. "The funeral's tomorrow, I'll tell her there as I doubt mother will want you attending." It was true that Elsa was very protective of her youngest, trying to keep her from the depressing, horrid ways of life.

Holly nodded and picked up a brush to help groom Black Bess. "Maybe I'll ride her in a few days," she murmured in a half-hearted attempt to converse with her brother.

"Yeah…dad mentioned riding her soon, he says he hasn't ridden her in days, he's been riding Silver when necessary. It's true; just as well the girl isn't young and therefore likely to be frisky and impatient."

Holly nodded and they spent the next ten minutes in a comfortable silence listening to the patter of the rain.

Dusk had fallen and outside a spooky fog was forming as the sky turned from indigo to black. It was chilly and the depressing rain continued to fall upon rooftops. "I'll need to mend our roof," Morgan remarked to his wife (Fern).

She nodded dreamily from where she sat by the fire sewing. The maid entered with the tea and poured out two cups and then exited again.

There was a knock at the door. "Now who could that be in such horrible weather?" Morgan wondered. "I suppose it could be Tim, bored as usual but even he should no better than to be wandering about in that." Fern nodded as they waited for the butler to come inform them.

There were heavy footsteps and if one listened carefully they might've been able to make out the metal ching with them. Morgan looked expectantly at the door but it wasn't the butler.

Fern dropped her knitting and jumped to her feet with a bloodcurdling scream. Morgan instantly grabbed the fire poker. There was a metal swish as a sword was unsheathed though how the owner used it was unknown- he was headless as the legends had said.

Mark heard the screams first as he was the only one in the household left awake. He raced into the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife and ran outside into the lashing rain. Though his vision was poor in the night he recognised the hysterical form to be his sister. "Fern what's wrong?" he called hurrying towards her.

"HE'S DEAD! OH GOD HE'S DEAD!" she shrieked as she ran towards him with bloodstained clothes plastered to her icy skin. "HE'S DEAD!" She grabbed her younger brother and started shaking him with wide eyes. "HE'S DEAD! DO YOU HEAR ME? HE'S DEAD!"

"Fern calm down! Calm down!" Mark rested his hands on her shoulders gently with the butcher knife still clutched in one. "Easy, easy," he said more softly. "Who's dead?"

"Morgan," she half-choked/half-sobbed. "Morgan, Morgan, Morgan."

Mark looked horrified and suddenly filled with a cold sense of fear he quickly urged his sister into the house. She was reluctant and hysterical, shouting and crying as he pushed her on but eventually they made it into the hallway where an aroused butler, Lily, Elsa and Holly all stood bathed in the golden glow of the butler's lamp.

"Oh my poor child!" Elsa rushed forward and embraced Fern. "Lily get her a change of clothes and a blanket at once!" she ordered. "Fern what happened?"

"He's…he's…he's…" she sobbed. "DEAD!"

"What! Who?"

"Morgan," Mark said quietly and darkly. Elsa didn't want to ask how but she did and Mark shrugged in response.

"The horseman," Fern choked, "I saw him…I saw…the horseman!" Holly and the butler both gasped.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The household was a silent, dull place for days and everyone, including the servants, was required to dress in black, act sombre and not dare entertain themselves in any fun way as it would be disrespectful to Morgan's soul. Lily, though downcast, did her best to comfort her elder sister and cheer her up. Nina offered words of comfort and sympathy being able to relate as she naturally still grieved her mother.

The village was plunged under a dark shadow and each night brave men stood guard, pacing the village with muskets and knives, switching watch every four hours until dawn. All always fearful that they'd be the doomed soul who'd hear Daredevil's hoof beats before the sword, lit with the fires of Hell, chopped off their head and the damned, ghostly rider spirited it away.

Holly shivered in the pouring rain as she dropped a thoughtful bouquet of violets onto the grave. She pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders and stared at the gravestone. Had a ghost really taken Nina's mother and Morgan also? Holly believed so but her father snorted and scoffed at such a suggestion. Holly murmured a prayer and then turned back to her brother Mark.

"I suppose we should go back now," he murmured glumly. The reason the pair were here was because he wanted to get out of the depressing household for a while, even if it did mean visiting the graveyard in the pouring rain.

"I don't mind staying out a little longer," Holly retorted.

Mark gave her a ghost of a smile. "It's alright; it's cold anyway, for the best." He turned to go back.

Holly followed thinking of the day that seemed like years ago but really was only a month at the most ago when it'd be a pleasant day and she'd gone riding with her brother. Times hadn't seemed so troubling then and her heart had not been heavy with worry and grief. How could she have taken such a pleasant moment for granted? Holly cursed herself inwardly.

Holly walked by her brother's side, both deliberately slow and both looking at the ground awkwardly. 'I wonder if things will ever seem normal again,' Holly wondered. She then scolded herself, 'no good being negative, not when everyone's so down already. The best I can do is to try and cheer people up and comfort my family.'

'I still don't believe,' Mark told himself, 'murderer yes but the ghost of a horseman? No but who is it then? What horrible human being is it?' "Holly you head on, I'm going to call by Nina's."

Holly looked at her brother reluctantly and was about to protest but stopped herself acknowledging his need to see Nina alone. She nodded and headed up to their house swiftly.

The day was growing darker and colder, a wind nipped at the young girl and made her rub her pale hands together rapidly as she felt goosebumps prick along her arms beneath her frail sleeves. Her pace increased as the clouds seemed to hint at some dark omen and she felt icy drops of rain begin to fall. She stumbled a couple of times on the bumpy ground and paused to catch her breath when she came to the bridge.

Without knowing why she felt drawn to the Western Woods and her eyes flickered over to the large, black, beckoning trees. Her heart nearly leaped into her throat when the sound of hooves started coming from those trees. She should run yet she couldn't. In fact, God help her, she wanted to see.

Mark paused outside Nina's house, his fist reaching up towards the door. He could feel the misery when he'd once felt only happiness pouring out of the house as a warm glow could be seen in the window and the smell of Nina's wonderful cooking as helped her mother make the tea. No more would Nina have that fun.

Mark knocked the door and after a moment a grey tinged, dreary faced Hayden answered. "How is she?" Mark blurted out forgetting to be polite.

"Coping well," Hayden answered wearily, "she's inside by the father, it's a cold evening for sure and we could both do with the warmth."

"Aye, may I come in?"

Hayden nodded and backed to let the lad enter. The house was definitely different, no half-finished sewing sitting carelessly over a chair, no pot bubbling over the fire, no clothes lying in a pile to be mended; in fact the place was tidy, too tidy.

Mark glanced at Nina sitting by the fireside darning some socks without giving them much attention and his feet shuffled uneasily. Hayden coughed before taking a seat that had its back to a stained window. Nina glanced up and looked at Mark. "Good evening," she greeted politely.

"Evening," he retorted. "Um how are you?"

"Fine, just doing a little mending before I go to bed. There's still much to do but I'm tired so I guess I'll tend to it all tomorrow." She sounded exhausted but with stress and sorrow more than plain fatigue.

Mark nodded as he awkwardly thought over what to say. Before the young man could form words there was the shattering of glass. Hayden's face seemed to twist in an awkward way and both Mark and Nina stared at him dumbly, their minds' trying to figure out exactly what was wrong.

Blood stained Hayden's shirt quickly as it ran down from his neck. The blade of an axe caught in the firelight before it was wrenched out back through the window and Hayden's head slid forward sickeningly and rolled to the floor.

Nina screamed and screamed and Mark's terrified eyes rolled about searching for something to protect Nina with. The headless spectre vanished from the window and they both froze as they heard the door bang against the wall forcefully.

"Holly?" Lily rose from her seat by the fireside and approached her sister. "Holly what's wrong?" She was close to uttering 'you look like you've seen a ghost' but it was far too inappropriate. Her sister was soaked to the skin, pale and oddly blank looking, her eyes slightly widened and her lips still showing neither smile, frown nor scowl. Lily's eyes widened when she noted the rusty red stains splattered slightly across the front of Holly's dress. "Holly what's happened?" her voice became unnaturally shrill as she approached her sister. Lily was usually the calm, perky one of the family, the whole reason she was in the house at the moment was to try and comfort her elder sister Fern.

"No head… Nina's house… he flicked his sword at me but… he didn't notice me…" Holly finally spoke up as her sister's hands shook her gently but firmly.

Lily's eyes widened with shock and she gasped, it was all she could do not to scream. Her own little sister had nearly been… so it was all true then! Thoughts collided confusingly in the young woman's mind and she dragged Holly over to the fire and they both collapsed in the seats.

Holly stared at the flames blankly as she struggled to believe her own eyes. So the horseman was real and she'd escaped him somehow. Why? Why had he passed her by? He couldn't see anyone yet somehow he sensed them so surely he couldn't have just not noticed her. Why spare her? Who had he killed? She'd seen him exiting from the woods but he hadn't seen her and she pursued foolishly as if drawn to him but of course the horse had gone so fast. When she'd finally caught up he'd exited from Nina's house and flicked his bloody sword at her. Had he killed in there? She shuddered. Worse, had the flick been a casual attempt to cleanse the blade of the blood from Hell so that it would be hungry and eager for fresh blood? Holly didn't want to know who'd died. If it had been… Mark… the guilt would be overwhelming. Mark! What if… had she abandoned her dying brother? How could she have been so cowardly as to have fled?

Lily clutched her sister to her with fearful eyes and stroked her hair in an effort to soothe both of them. Had Nina died? Had Hayden? Hadn't that family suffered enough? Tears pricked at her eyes angrily, how could such good people be allowed to die so horribly?

A loud, repetitive noise was heard at the door. It was too harsh and frightening to be called mere knocking- it was slamming at best. Animalistic howls could be heard along with the wild wind and slamming from behind the door.

Holly and Lily both jumped and their wide, doe like eyes watched the butler approaching the door, both wanting to stop him yet some morbid curiosity of theirs also willing him on. Their hands clutched at the other's and they quivered slightly.

The door opened and Mark staggered inside, his face pale and drawn, his eyes puffy and damp and his arm soaked with blood and hanging in an odd fashion. He collapsed to the floor and the butler slammed the door and attended him quickly.

Holly and Lily rushed to their brother's aid and Lily gasped seeing how his arm barely hung on as if some weapon had tried to sever his shoulder from his neck. "What happened?" Lily demanded shrilly.

"Fetch a doctor!" Holly cried to the butler.

The butler was scared to venture out into the night, especially considering Mark's state and so, instead of rushing off bravely to find one he hurried to find one of the lower down servant boys to send.

"He killed her," Mark snarled between sobs, "he killed her!" He held anger and grief and was torn between the two. His skin was as white as a sheet and he was growing fainter and fainter, spurred on to make it this far only by the adrenaline his rage gave him. "HE KILLED HER!" He coughed and choked and Lily struggled to hold him steady.

"Holly fetch some clothes and water, we need to stop the bleeding," Lily ordered his sister faintly. Who knew how much blood her brother had lost? She blanched at the thought that he might not see it through the night.

Holly rushed off without needing to be told twice and returned as quickly as possible with a bowl of water and a pile of towels and cloths. She then helped Lily tear off Mark's shirt sleeve and soak up the gushing blood. 'His arm is barely hanging on,' she thought with pity and horror. 'Nina… how could anyone believe a living man could possibly be doing such horrible things?'

"Oh good God!" Elsa Bracken shrieked as she descended to find her son lying in a bloodied heap. "MARK!" She ran to her children and fell beside her son. "What happened! What!"

"The horseman," Mark choked out hoarsely as his vision began to dim. The rage was still there but this time the wound dominated.

Elsa muttered prayers and pleas under her breath before helping to tend her son's wound. "Has a doctor been sent for?" she demanded.

"Of course," Lily retorted with a nod as they struggled to bandage the wound with towels and stave the wound. "Where's father?"

"He went visiting," Elsa answered, "speaking with Mr. Branstoke."

"Oh my! I hope he's alright!" Lily exclaimed.

"Mark stay with us," Holly begged.

"Nina," he murmured.

The doctor didn't take long to arrive. Being very professional he didn't once shriek at the wound or pale slightly. Though it was clear he'd never seen something so bad he treated it calmly and rationally. After examining the wound he came to a grave conclusion. "There's no chance of this being stitched back on," he announced as he tried to stop the bleeding. "All I can do is finish the amputation and tried to stop the stump gushing and becoming infective."

"No!" Holly and Lily both protested.

Luckily Mark had fainted and couldn't hear the devastating news.

The doctor shook his head. "I cannot leave it hanging and it is impossible to reattach it, to even attempt would be foolish and it would waste much time. It wouldn't be as shocking or painful as it would to have it completely amputated and the stump would be easier to bandage."

"No!" the pair protested again.

"The doctor is right," Ivor growled sternly. He'd returned not long after the doctor had arrived and his face was grimly set, his shock better hidden than the others' but his distress still evidently there. He looked up at the doctor. "If it must be done then it must be done. Be quick."

"No!" Lily cried out with teary eyes. "He'd hate it! At least try to reattach his arm, at least try!"

"Lily do you want your brother to live or die?" Ivor snapped angrily. "If time is wasted on the impossible he will die!"

"Ivor," Elsa said quietly, touching her husband's left arm with her hand to calm him. Tears trickled down her tightened face.

"I'll start now," the doctor said.

"Lily, Holly, come, we aren't going to watch this," Elsa ordered as she turned to the small sitting room. "The maid shall prepare some tea and we will wait patiently until it is done."

"I want to stay!" Holly shouted. "I don't want to leave Mark!"

"Holly do what you're told," Ivor snarled.

"Holly please, it will do you know good to be here," her mother said pleadingly, holding out a hand. "Please."

With much reluctance, Holly and Lily followed the mother into the sitting room, both glancing back at their still brother.

"The doctor will save his life, we can ask for no more," Elsa said as she shut the door.

"What if he does die?" Holly queried.

"Don't be negative," her mother scolded, "he will live."

The wind howled outside and somewhere a horse bayed into the night.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Ah it's been over a year but I haven't forgotten this fanfic! Thank-you to everyone for the reviews and the favourites. Sorry for the delay I've been busy working on other stories and uni work but now I've gotten back to this. Hope you enjoy it and sorry for the wait!**_

**Chapter 6**

This time it was Mark who was struck with fever. Four days had gone by since the horrific incident, the village now lived in a state of panic and terror, those who could afford to leave or had relatives to stay with had fled except for a brave few including the Bracken family whose money was tied up in Sleepy Hollow.

Mark had spent the four days in bed tossing and turning, his family feared that he wasn't even aware that his arm had been amputated. Luckily there was no infection and he was not as bad as he could be. Physically that was, mentally his state was unknown but after losing Nina so brutally Lily and Holly suspected he was as a bad as Fern.

Ivor spent his time away from his family, his face permanently blanched and his lips in a frown. He couldn't even bear to look at Mark, his heir, and didn't visit once. Instead he spent his time away from the house trying to install calm in the village. So many were dead and the people were in a panic but what could be done? Ivor knew there had to be a mortal killer behind the deaths; he refused to accept that the Hessian had come to torment Sleepy Hollow once more.

Elsa sat by Mark's bedside briefly each time but overcome with emotion she would leave hastily before even an hour had passed. She would seek solace in her room, kneeling by her bed with a pewter cross clutched in her hands. 'It wouldn't surprise me if the Lord has deserted me,' she thought to herself, 'after what I did…but why should Mark and Fern suffer? Must my children pay the price for my crimes?'

Holly strolled not too far from her house with one of the dogs at her heels, pausing to sniff now and then in patches of grass. She spent her days with Mark and walking. She couldn't bear the atmosphere in her house or amongst the villagers. They looked at her emptily or worse with something akin to contempt. Perhaps they blamed her family in some way, perhaps they considered them being doubly cursed as a sign of something. Holly had been locked up for two years after all with a sickness that was cured some miraculous way, it was suspicious and mysterious and the villagers hated things like that.

The day was dull but despite the grey clouds overhead Holly didn't expect it to rain too much. The air was chilly enough but there was no breeze, which was something to be thankful for. The majority of villagers were sealed up in their houses fretting away and the only creatures Holly could see nearby was a small group of daft looking sheep.

Tears pricked at the young girl's eyes as she thought of her poor brother. It was grief and worry for her that overcame her fear of the horseman. This, an irrational belief that he only came at night and the fact that he had spared her were what gave Holly the courage to go wandering about her village. It was strange but her mother didn't stop her she just cautioned her and half-heartedly insisted that Holly take a dog with her, as if that would be any protection against a spectre.

'I would give anything for Mark to be well again and happy,' she thought to herself gloomily. 'I would give my own head if it meant the return of Nina and Mark's arm, then they could marry and have children and grow old together like they should have done. I wouldn't be that missed anyway, not as much as Nina and her family will be, everyone adored them. Still it's pointless thinking such silly things, the horseman doesn't offer trades.' She paused in her walking and knelt down to scratch the dog's ears. 'Why did he spare me?' she wondered. 'Why slaughter Nina but pass me by? She did no ill in her life so why?' It did no good though, no matter how much Holly thought about it she could come up with no logical answer.

It was late at night and the village was in a restless slumber. A few brave men perched upon rooftops with guns waiting for a spectre that they prayed wouldn't come. Mark tossed and turned in his feverish sleep and Holly dozed in a chair by his bedside. Elsewhere in the house Lily and Fern shared a large bed, Lily holding her sister's hand in comfort as they slept surprisingly peacefully.

Ivor didn't sleep however; he sat in his parlour beside a bookshelf with the fire blazing. He had a face like thunder as he sat there brooding. 'It shouldn't have been my son,' he thought angrily. 'My family don't deserve this.'

Elsa was out of the house knowing that Ivor would fail to notice her absence as he hadn't come to bed since Mark had been wounded. She strode towards the Western Woods unnoticed by the watchers on the roof. It may have seemed brave or foolish but she felt neither, she just felt a grim determination. When she reached the entrance to the woods she paused and waited.

After an hour had trickled by Elsa called out quietly, "come if you're coming dark avenger. Half your anger is for me no doubt."

There was a bray from deep within the woods.

Elsa trembled and her heart leapt with fear when once it would have beat with joy. 'Am I going to die now?' she wondered. 'Will I go the way of the others at long last as I deserve to? Will this perhaps quench his thirst?'

There was a snort.

Elsa looked up with alarmed green eyes. Slowly she looked up. There was Daredevil but not as she remembered, he was clearly demonic now. Next she eyed a spurred boot, the clinking of them had given him away often enough but then he had never feared his enemies hearing him except in his final moments. There were his worn, black trousers, he'd loved the colour black, next was his huge belt with its detailed pewter buckle and then the start of his tough, patterned black top. Behind it all was a cloak of black and red velvet, one of the few things he wore for style as opposed to stealth, though it did indeed serve him well in the cold climates though no more was it needed for that.

Finally Elsa's eyes looked to where a head should be but there was none. Tears sprang to her eyes, everything else was the same and so for a moment she had dared to hope…alas she should have known better. The front of his large, black collar was facing her so she knew she had his attention. Was he taking his time or actually giving her a chance? "I am sorry," she choked out. How she longed to see his frozen blue eyes once more, only in his skull and not another's as they were now. "It's all my fault and it's my head you should take not those of poor innocents." Her eyes had fallen to the ground now, it hurt too much.

The horseman did nothing in response.

She looked up at him. "Please," she begged, "you've already destroyed two of my children! Just kill me and let it all be over."

He touched her chin gently with a black, leather glove outlined in red. She closed her eyes and remembered how wonderful that had once felt. When she opened them again he was pointing, in the direction of her house.

"Do you mean to kill him?" she queried hoarsely.

He tapped his sheathed sword in answer.

She swallowed hard. "What a fool I've been," she murmured, "if only I had had strength then…you will still live…they all would." She gave a bitter smile. "Except of course…well is one life so small a sacrifice for so many?"

The axe came and perched precariously against her neck.

"You want me to retract that? You think her worth far more?" she questioned harshly. Her gaze softened. "I do love her you know, mistake or not, I love her so but how can she be worth all this? Your death, those you have killed, the misery of her sister and the crippled nature of her poor brother. You spared Mark on purpose didn't you? Him and Fern, you know she loves them so, but alive or not they've still been destroyed by your cruel blade. She wouldn't think herself worth all this you know. If she knew she would hate you so, is that what you want?"

The axe blade cut in warning, drawing blood.

Elsa didn't even wince. "After all this you still can't kill me. I loved you too horseman but no longer. Admittedly she would hate me too if she knew the truth…but she never will, I won't tell her and you can't."

He pulled Daredevil into a rear and then cantered off towards the village. Elsa prayed for the poor soul who was to be next before she hurried back to her home.

She made it back to her room without being spotted and found the bed still empty. 'Poor Ivor,' she thought pityingly, 'you must hate me so for all this.'

Ivor had now left the parlour and was outside in the garden, leaning on a sealed up well that was almost hidden by bushes. His fingers scraped along the wooden seal lightly. He wanted to look inside, to reassure himself that his trophy was still there but he daren't. If he opened it then others might later.

The anger had never faded not even when he had gotten his revenge. Perhaps it hadn't been enough or perhaps it was because he'd been left with a permanent reminder. Was he worried? A little but he knew the horseman would never find his head, after all, only Ivor knew it was sealed up in the well.

He could recall that day well. The horseman had never been welcomed into the village but Ivor had never suspected that he would be given a reason to want his death.

_The sun hadn't even set when Ivor rode up to his house. He was home early because of a bad day's hunting and it had put him in a dreary mood. He handed his horse to a stable boy before striding into his house. Oomph!_

_Ivor looked up with annoyance. He froze up with shock. Cool blue eyes pierced into him._

"_Pardon me," the intruder said coolly._

_Ivor took a moment to find his voice but when he did he snarled, "What are you doing here?" Like everyone else in the village he had no tolerance for strangers and finding this one in his house was a huge insult._

"_Just visiting." He grinned with his horrid, sharpened teeth before walking past Ivor and exiting, his spurs clinking as he did._

_Ivor had questioned his wife, his children and his staff but no one had much to say about the horseman's visit. Elsa said she was just trying to be welcoming but that was all._

_From then on Ivor had the horseman carefully watched but he never did much apart from sit around the hut he'd rented and feed and exorcise his horse._

_When it was too late Ivor discovered the truth. He should have had the horseman watched twenty-four seven instead of being foolish enough to think that he slept like a normal man. All the signs had been there, Elsa had been so happy and Ivor knew it wasn't his doing. She was always smiling, singing and laughing._

_When the battle broke out he rode off__ to play his brutal part. He returned months later looking for a place to hide. Ivor made sure that he was refused and because of a bump he had nothing to do with he made sure that the soldiers found a trace to follow in the snowy woods._

_When all was done Ivor went to the grave to reassure himself that the man was dead. With glee he took the head back as both a trophy and evidence for his wife._

He headed back inside and went to his son's room. A maid exited and he grabbed her arm roughly. "How is he?" he demanded.

She looked up at him fearfully. "The…the…the same," she stuttered.

He released her and sighed heavily before heading to his room. He entered and stripped in the dark. He knew Elsa was there, he could hear her breathing. He lay down beside her but made no effort to touch her. He couldn't touch her, he hadn't been able to since the horseman had entered their lives. He loathed her still but she was the mother of his children and she was a submissive wife if nothing else. The marriage had been arranged yes but that didn't forgive her betrayal.

Oh well, even if her beloved horseman rode again he couldn't ruin Ivor's life again, not when Ivor had what he craved most.


	7. Chapter 7

_Heya sorry the update isn't as long as might have been hoped for. This chapter was quite a struggle, it's hard to keep up__ the suspense lol. Hope you all like it!_

**Chapter 7**

Holly was lying beside her brother in an uneasy sleep when she heard the hoof beats. She shot up with alarm the same time she heard a loud bang. For a moment all she could hear was her thundering heart and heaving breathing. When she forced herself to calm there was silence.

Thump, thump, thump. She froze when the hooves picked up again, sounding like there were coming towards the house. Once she had thought her house like an impenetrable fort but no more did she hold any such illusion. Fearful that the horseman had finally come to finish the job on her brother, she sprang from the bed and raced down the stairs to alert the household.

She didn't even realise where she was going in her panic until she spotted the warm glow of fire from the living room. It was from another time when the house had been a fort and the fire capable keeping all demons at bay. She was about to burst into the room when a shout from it halted her.

"Does he ride again? Is it him against the odds or is it some madman from the village?" Ivor snarled with rage. "Have you summoned you whore? Perhaps you don't mind him without his head, as long as he has something else still attached!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Elsa retorted from within the room with an obvious tremor in her voice. "I did not summon him and I know no more than you if it is a spectre or a man."

"Don't lie to me, no more lies about the Hessian you slut!"

"Ivor it was years ago, he is forgotten to me and I have no connection to whatever rides and slays in our dear Sleepy Hollow."

SLAP!

Holly jumped with fright and quivered outside. She did her best to peer through the crack in the door without being spotted.

Elsa clutched her burning cheek and looked up at her husband fearfully.

"This is your doing," he snarled.

"It's not; if it is anyone's fault it's yours for taking his head!" Elsa shouted at him in a moment of bravery.

Holly gave a loud gasp, betraying her presence.

Ivor strode over to the door and yanked it open to glower at the youngest member of the family. He grabbed her by her hair and flung her into the room.

Holly screamed in pain as she hit the stone floor.

Elsa rushed to her daughter and put her arms around her protectively.

"It was revenge for leaving me with that," Ivor snapped as he pointed at Holly hatefully.

The thirteen-year-old looked up at him with tears stinging her eyes. He couldn't mean…

"Ivor don't," Elsa begged, "Holly is innocent to all this."

"Well I've had enough of the pretence; if she didn't linger here he might not either!"

BANG! The sound of the front door being forced open and slamming against the wall. Clip, clop, clip, clop, clip, clop.

"Oh God," Elsa murmured, clinging tightly to Holly.

The three looked to the open living room door fearfully.

Clink, clink, clink. The noise of spurs hitting the floor as someone loomed closer. A dark form appeared in the doorway.

Ivor grabbed Holly suddenly from Elsa and held her against him in a tight grip. His face was pallid as he eyed the headless figure. He recognised the dragon armour, he knew for certain now that this was no murdering villager. "Didn't you torment this family enough?" he snarled at the spirit.

"Ivor let her go!" Elsa cried at him as she glanced from Holly to the Hessian with worry and fear.

The horseman pointed his sword at Ivor threateningly.

Ivor gave him an insane smirk in response. "I'll kill her horseman; have no doubt, for what does she matter to me?"

Holly's eyes widened with horror but she didn't dare speak, not that she could as Ivor was practically choking her and breathing was becoming enough of a challenge.

"Don't say that!" Elsa snapped at Ivor. "You don't mean it."

Ivor glanced her for a brief second before returning his gaze to the Hessian. "Of course I do, she isn't of my blood, she's that spectre's daughter! Perhaps I should have her join him and they can roam Hell together!"

'Daughter?' Holly trembled as she looked at the headless form. 'It can't be.'

"Ivor let her go," Elsa begged.

"No, although she isn't the only bargaining chip I have, as you might know, it was I who took your precious head you bastard and only I know its whereabouts," Ivor said boastfully, he was half-mad with fear and panic. He did resent Holly but she had innocently played the part of his daughter for so many years, it would be a lie to say he hadn't become attached to her in someway. Now he was threatening to kill her, in his rage he could do it but deep down he didn't want to cross that extreme.

The horseman flung an axe before Ivor even saw him unsheathe it. He gave a scream when it sank into the arm he had wrapped around Holly. In his agony he released her.

Holly ran to her mother, keeping her eyes on the horseman the whole time.

The horseman strode forward to Ivor with his sword bared. Clink, clink, clink, his spurs rang out against the floor.

Ivor pulled at the axe pathetically and gave a howl of pain. His eyes became fearful as he looked at the headless foe approaching. "You can't touch me," he snarled in an attempt to put on a brave front. "I'm the only one who knows where your head is, you'll never find it if you take mine!"

The horseman seemed to take no heed of the man's words and kept coming forward. He stopped when he was just a foot away.

"Don't kill him please," Holly begged all of a sudden. "Please."

The horseman went motionless as if debating the matter.

"He may not be my real father but he is still father to my siblings and husband to my mother, don't take him from them," she pleaded.

"Please," Elsa added her voice to the pleas. "Let him live."

"You won't get your head back," Ivor growled as he struggled with the axe causing blood to gush out of his limb. Mark flickered in his head, if he wasn't careful he would end up like his son soon enough. The wound was deep, it would need stitching.

The horseman swung his sword.


	8. Chapter 8

'_**Tis over! Sorry it was such a short fanfic but I guess I never intended it to be long. Well I hope you all like the ending and thank-you so much for your reviews!**_

**Chapter 8**

The sword sank into the wall as Ivor ducked to avoid a fatal blow. His heart raced madly and he pulled out the axe, dropped it and then he ran for it whilst the horseman struggled with his sword. "I'll show you spectre!" he shouted. "I'll take control of you and make you take your little brat's head back with you to hell where you both belong!"

The horseman freed his sword, spun round with an unnatural speed and gave chase to Ivor.

Holly broke from her mother and ran after him.

The three exited into the wind and the rain and Ivor sprinted to the well with an unnatural speed brought on by an adrenaline rush, which came from the knowledge that he had to make it to the well or else he would die. 'He deserves Hell,' he thought to himself, 'after what he did to me and my family.'

Holly fell a good bit behind the horseman; he was a silhouette in the distance that was almost impossible to pick out in the darkness. Perhaps it was all just some terrible nightmare and she would awaken soon to find Nina alive and Mark with both arms. She tripped in the mud and fell forward with a cry. Almost instantly she picked herself up, ignoring the stinging pain that danced up her leg. She couldn't lose them or else another life might be forfeit to the horseman's blade.

Ivor grabbed a rock and broke the wooden seal of the well. It took him longer than he wanted but at last it was broken. The well had been drained and sealed up a long time ago and there lying in it on a heap of dirt was the fanged skull of the Hessian. He grabbed it with a crazed smile and clutched it to himself protectively.

Before Ivor could even think a command the headless spectre tackled him to the muddy ground and the head rolled down a hill. Ivor gave a shriek of alarm and tried to get the corpse of him, wary of its sheathed sword.

When Holly arrived, horseman and Ivor were rolling in the muck fighting over the horseman's sword, which was in Ivor's clutches. Ivor stabbed upwards into the horseman's chest and Holly gave a scream.

Ivor kicked the Hessian off and struggled to his feet with great effort. He was covered in bruises and cuts and his arm was gushing blood, it would need stitched up if he wanted to keep it attached. He looked to the hill and cursed the lack of light. Lightning split the skies and he thanked God for it before he ran down the hill.

The Hessian, with his sword now in his hand gave a murderous pursuit.

In an effort to follow, Holly ended up slipping and slid down the steep hill. She skidded to a stop just a metre before a strong current river, which seemed to have been all the more dangerous by the storm.

FLASH! There was the skull close to the river, grinning sadistically at them all.

In a moment of recklessness Holly crawled towards it. Her fingers brushed against it before Ivor collided with her.

One moment she was in control and close to victory, the next she was tumbling chaotically and after that her lungs were screaming in pain as her body was tugged below icy water without control.

Ivor stood up triumphantly with the skull. He turned to order the horseman and ended up facing a blade instead. The sword pierced through the top of his nose and out the back of his skull sickeningly. In a subconscious effort to escape the blow his body started to fall backwards. His head slid from the blade disgustingly as he did.

The horseman grabbed his skull with his other hand as the body fell into the river. Poor Ivor was still alive as he swept away after Holly.

The winds screamed in horror as skull met corpse once more. Blood and flesh tangled themselves in an effort to unite the two and the mouth smiled. Hair sprouted from it and the clouds rumbled above violently in anger as this sick recreation.

There was a whinny as Daredevil found his master at last as two unholy blue eyes took the place of vacant, black holes. The Hessian smiled for the first time in years before mounting his steed and sending him into a gallop down the river. No normal rider would have dared to go so close at such a pace over slippery ground but neither rider nor steed in this case was normal and it was no risk to them for they had no lives to lose.

He did not need the lightning to see her when he did. She was still alive but only just. He dismounted, pulled her away from the river and cradled her in his lap. The lightning flashed again letting him see her properly for the first time. Young, fragile, dark haired like him, fair like her mother, a beautiful, unnatural thing.

His blue eyes looked up at him weakly. He didn't seem so scary now that he had a face; in fact he seemed comforting somehow. She was so cold and so sleepy. "Maybe I can ride with you," she murmured.

He gave her a fanged smile. "Or maybe you could go back to your mother where you belong," he addressed her gently in a hushed voice with a faint accent.

"I don't think I can."

"You thought that last time, you all did when you where sick in your bed but you were wrong then and you're wrong now."

She was confused by this, how did he know she had been sick?

"I can grant death so easily but sometimes, with effort, I can stop it," he told her. "You will see me no more but I will be happy with that."

"No," she moaned, "I've spent years with my family; I want to spend time with you. I was sick before…I got well but this…this isn't sickness."

"You are young, you deserve to live yet."

In her last moments she found a new surge of energy and she gripped his gloves hands with her own soaked ones tightly. "Father."

He nodded, ignoring the storm's outcry around them.

Daredevil gave a soft bray. Was he to gallop his master back to Hell after this? A man punished for fighting for his lords, a man damned to spend the days in Hell and the nights hunting where he died for his head, taking souls as punishment for his loss. Yes a good deal of him deserved Hell but a part of him deserved forgiveness. Perhaps penance would be where Daredevil took him this time.

It took three years before things seem to settle back into normality for Sleepy Hollow. In that time Elsa took her son and daughters to the city to begin a new life. Despite the loss of his arm and the pain of losing Nina and Holly, Mark was able to fall in love again and had a beautiful fiancée. Lily married and Fern began to date gain. None of them forgot the loss of their youngest sister, father and other halves but the pain had lessened.

Elsa knew in her heart that Ivor was dead but even now she still couldn't help but wonder about her daughter and her spectral father. She had waited for over a month in the hope that they would come back to her but neither did and despite searches Holly was never found, although the brutal corpse of Ivor was.

Unable to forget Elsa returned to Sleepy Hollow, arriving there one sleepy dawn when she felt it safest as it would be the longest time until nightfall. She walked up the dew sprinkled grass from her carriage in the direction of her old house, amazed that even now it was still standing though it was no doubt in ruin.

The village was thriving again, she could tell by the livestock in the fields, the sacks of grain by the sheds and the obvious sign of people. She smiled, glad that the horseman had not taken the village's life with him.

She turned to face the Western Woods, which lay there as creepy as ever. Was he back in his grave deep in there once more? She could only hope so as she hurried up to her home. When she made it there she could not bear entering and instead strode from the back.

A gasp escaped her. There by the well, sealed up once more, three figures stood. One a giant, black horse, the other a man in armour and the last a young girl. Elsa shivered; she knew they were no living beings.

The ghostly girl placed a flower on top of the well. The man wrapped one arm around her and squeezed gently before he hoisted her onto the stallion. He then mounted behind. To Elsa's fright, the stallion reared and turned to face her.

Daredevil galloped past her in the blink of an eye with a whinny and when she turned to follow where he went, he vanished as the sun's golden rays struck him.


End file.
